Showing results by narrator "Michael Butler Murray" in All Categories

Since a bomb blew him through a hotel window in Colombo, international fixer Max Donovan's life has become more complicated. He's in possession of a manuscript which is proof of a revolutionary insurgency encircling Sri Lanka. He is not, however, in possession of its author, Osbert—just his beguiling niece, who wants Donovan's help.

After seven long years in prison, Colt Hudson is finally returning to Blake County, Georgia. But in his hometown, he's treated like just another criminal—with good reason. The scion of a tight-knit southern clan, Colt's family is deeply involved in one of the most dangerous meth operations in Georgia. Colt's early release from prison comes with strings attached—a deal with narcotics squad commander Tim Dawson, who wants information that could help bust the family business. But when the drug agent who put Colt away seven years ago turns up dead, a dangerous conspiracy begins to unravel.

Charles Hunter, a former United States Re-Con Marine working as an independent contractor with an international security outfit, reluctantly accepts an assignment to assist in the rescue of a widow and her eight-year-old daughter who were being held hostage by a gang of criminals in Venezuela. His reluctance had nothing to do with the nature of the job, he liked rescues, they made him feel heroic. It was returning to Venezuela, the circumstances of his leaving, and the pain he had caused the people he had left behind that worried him.

In the heart of Blake County, an unprecedented legal storm is brewing. A long-time US senator, Bill Collins, is at the epicenter of this maelstrom. A man of power and influence, he now stands indicted, accused of an unthinkable crime—conspiring in the region's most recent unsolved murders. Enter Maggie Reynolds: a top-notch trial lawyer, famous for handling high-profile criminal defense cases. In a surprise twist, she crosses the aisle to stand on an unfamiliar side of the courtroom. Tapped as a special prosecutor, Maggie finds herself leading the State's case against the senator.

With its signature "DARE to keep kids off drugs" slogan and iconic t-shirts, DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) was the most popular drug education program of the 1980s and 1990s. But behind the cultural phenomenon is the story of how DARE and other antidrug education programs brought the War on Drugs into schools and ensured that the velvet glove of antidrug education would be backed by the iron fist of rigorous policing and harsh sentencing.

After receiving a PhD in mathematics from MIT, Larry spent three decades working at prestigious companies in the tech industry. Initially he was not worried when he lost his job as part of a large layoff, but the prolonged unemployment that followed decimated his finances and nearly ended his marriage. Larry's story is not an anomaly. In The Stigma Trap, Ofer Sharone explains how the stigma of unemployment can render past educational and professional achievements irrelevant, and how it leaves all American workers vulnerable to becoming trapped in unemployment.

Since exploding on the scene in the late 1970s, Journey has inspired generations of fans with hit after hit. But hidden under this rock 'n' roll glory is a complex story of ambition, larger-than-life personalities, and clashes. David Hamilton Golland unearths the band's true and complete biography, based on over a decade of interviews and thousands of sources.

Retired LAPD detective Mike Travis has put thousands of miles between himself and his former life by sailing to Kona, Hawaii, where he runs a private yacht charter business and co-owns a coffee farm. But once a cop, always a cop—especially when someone he cares about needs his help. When a local girl goes missing, her fundamentalist parents don't even file a report. She is eighteen, after all, and seems to be rebelling against her strict upbringing. But Travis knows the dangers that lurk for young women.

The mystery has fascinated the music industry since 1977—the year when some tapes went missing from the Stone Blossoms' final recording session for one of the most anticipated rock albums of all time. The band's charismatic leader committed suicide on the same day. Retired cop Mike Travis learns about the puzzling history in the worst way possible. After sailing from Catalina to his family's old beach house in Kona, Hawaii, he discovers there's been a bloodbath.

After twenty years at the LAPD Homicide Bureau, Mike Travis is finally retiring and starting over on Santa Catalina Island. In the small town of Avalon, he lives and works on his yacht, sailing and chartering scuba diving trips. There, among tourists and quirky locals, he tries to banish the residual darkness from his mind. It's not that easy, especially when the one case he never solved comes back to haunt him . . .

Straight-shooting author Joe Mathews delivers a practical and hands-on "how-to" guide for aspiring franchisees seeking to start their own businesses. In the book, you'll explore real-life stories from the franchising trenches that illustrate how to effectively look past the obvious and dig deep into the bones of a franchise to establish fit, predict success, and mitigate risk. You'll discover the personality types most likely to experience success and failure at franchising and identify the entrepreneurial traits that can expose you to additional risk.

In Teach for Climate Justice, accomplished educator and social and emotional learning expert Tom Roderick proposes a visionary interdisciplinary and intersectional approach to PreK-12 climate education. He argues that meaningful instruction on this urgent issue of our time must focus on climate justice—the convergence of climate change and social justice—in a way that is emotionally safe, developmentally appropriate, and ultimately empowering.

Written by former Tax Foundation CEO Scott Hodge, Taxocracy: What You Don't Know About Taxes and How They Rule Your Daily Life uses amusing lessons from past tax policies gone wrong to explore how the US tax code caused serious consequences, affecting how we get our health insurance, the price of a college education, what car we buy, where we bank, and, in some cases, even when we die. Taxocracy outlines economic principles for designing a tax code that doesn't rule our daily lives—a tax code that promotes economic growth, free-enterprise, and takes the politics out of tax policy.